Cooperating Teacher

Many districts award the instructional waivers to the teachers/professionals directly responsible for the students’ field experiences. However, waivers are valid for use by the district’s professional employees as defined in the district/institutional agreement and many districts have alternative policies. “Professional employees” shall be defined as teacher aides and substitute teachers who have worked a minimum of 20 days during the past academic year for the district. Please check with your district office to determine the policy for waiver allocation.

Waivers are allocated based on a contractual formula and Institutional Agreement on file with each district; the actual waiver hours awarded vary by the type and/or length of the course for which they are earned. The waivers are sent directly to the district and the agreement allows each district to distribute the waivers as it deems appropriate. The waivers are sent out to the districts the week of November 15th for the spring semester and April 15th for the fall semester.

Waivers will cover the instructional portion of tuition for the number of hours awarded. It does not cover any cost recovery, international programs, registration fees, student fees or related fees that may apply. All such fees are the responsibility of the student. Currently, a 1 hour instructional waiver equates to $357.00 for graduate courses.

Waivers should be submitted only after a student has enrolled in a class for that current semester. Please do not submit any waivers in advance of being registered for a course or for a future semester. Waivers must be submitted no later than the last day of the term the course was taken.

Completed waiver forms are usually assigned an instructional waiver number within 48 hours of its receipt by UOELP. The waivers are then sent to the Bursar’s office to be credited to the student’s account. The waiver credit is usually entered within another 48 hours, with the exception of holiday periods (please note that NIU closes for two weeks in late December and January).

Anything received after NIU’s posted payment due dates will be charged a late fee; late fees are charged to an account when the instructional waivers have not been received before the scheduled payment due date or if there is not a zero balance on the student’s account, meaning they have not paid any fees or other related charges. Payment due dates can be found at http://www.niu.edu/bursar/payments/due-dates.shtml.

If a student does not have a zero balance at the time the waiver is posted he/she will still incur late charges for any unpaid balance that remains. A zero balance means all fees and other charges have been paid.